An abortion clinic in Shreveport, Louisiana, closed on Friday after a new law went into effect allowing the state’s Department of Health and Hospitals to close any clinic believed to be posing a health or safety threat. [KSLA]

The Steelers’ QB Ben Roethlisberger received a six-game suspension after rape accusations, but on Friday the NFL commissioner reduced it to four games. Yeah, that’ll show him. [Jezebel]

Jennifer Carroll is already Florida’s only black state legislator and if her running mate, Republican gubernatorial candidate Rick Scott, is elected, she will become the state’s first-ever black lieutenant governor. [Essence]

Tim Ravndal, the president of a Tea Party group in Helena, Montana, has been removed from his post after he wrote comments on his Facebook page that appear to condone violence against gays and lesbians. Ravndal complained about same-sex marriage, writing, “Marriage is between a man and a woman period! By giving rights to those otherwise would be a violation of the Constitution and my own rights.” Another Facebook user replied, “”I think fruits are decorative. Hang up where they can be seen and appreciated. Call Wyoming for display instructions.” (The word “fruits” is an offensive way to refer to gays; Wyoming is the state where a gay student, Matthew Shepard, was murdered in 1998.) Ravndal replied, “”Where can I get that Wyoming printed instruction manual?” The Big Sky Tea Party group released a statement announcing it will not tolerate “bigoted dialogue, behavior or messages.” [AP]

Brittany Lopez, 14, from Bronx, New York, was honored at Yankee Stadium by the NY Public Library last week for reading 325 books over the summer. [Guanabee]

Some female athletes are being urged to freeze their eggs so they don’t compromise their fertility through intense physical training. [ABC News]

America Ferrera will host “Independent Lens,” a documentary series on PBS, for the ninth season. Past hosts include Susan Sarandon, Edie Falco and Terrence Howard. [Yahoo]

INTERNATIONAL

Saudi Arabian women are speaking out against male guardianship laws, including rules that they cannot travel without the permission of male relatives. [CNN]

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has denounced the poison gas attacks at a girls’ school in Kabul, Afghanistan. [Foreign Policy]

Guanajuato, Mexico has reduced the prison sentences of six women who have had abortions. Instead of serving up to 29 years for “infanticide,” their sentences are now eight years. [APF]

Jasad, a Beirut-based art magazine about “the body” that includes nude photos, run by a woman named Joumana Haddad, is about to publish its eighth issue. [The Daily Beast]

Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS) is calling on Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to speak up for Shiva Nazar Ahari, an Iranian journalist and blogger, as she heads to trial for “anti-regime propaganda,” “acts contrary to national security through participation in gatherings,” and “enmity against God.” Clinton has spoken up on behalf of Ahari in the past. [Foreign Policy]

Doctors in India are still inserting their fingers into rape victims’ vaginas to feel for a hymen and “assess whether unmarried girls and women are ‘habituated to sexual intercourse,'” according to a Human Rights Watch Report. Because that has so much to do with whether or not you’ve been raped, of course. [Salon.com Broadsheet]

The prime minister of someplace we’ve never heard of (Faroe Islands? where the hell is that?) allegedly refused to dine with Johanna Sigurdardottir, the prime minister of Iceland, because Sigurdardottir is a lesbian. [Queerty]

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Simply Irresistible

As you slog your way through the myriad not-yet-April Fools' Day pranks that plague this nation, revel in this: no one has ever pranked someone better than Michael Jackson pranked Russell Crowe, and he did it for years. In an interview with The Guardian, Crowe revealed that despite having never met Jackson,…